And we’ll know that it’s Richard by his nose, by his nose: or, a short prolegomenon to Armitage nose logistics

Title of the post with apologies to Christians and prolegomenists (people who write prolegomena). I’m always torn when a new piece of news comes up — can I comment on it immediately? I rarely do, mostly because I am always thinking about contexts and putting together a context takes time. Anyway, yes, I was thrilled when I read the Eric Vespe report with accompanying photos. This is a stream of consciousness discussion of a couple of the many contexts I thought of.

One of the first things I reflected upon in the search for Richard Armitage in these pictures was that I like seeing photos of him when he’s not looking at the camera. No, not stolen photos of his private life, but rather photos of him standing around when something else is going on. It makes him seem more normal, somehow, and not so much larger than life as he often does when he turns his full wattage at the lens. I’m thinking here in agreement with Jane’s recent comment about candid photos from sets he’s been on.

The possibility that someone in these photos could be Richard Armitage also made me think of this screencap from the “Hood Academy” feature included in the DVD set of series 1 of Robin Hood:

Jonas Armstrong being interviewed for the “Hood Academy” feature, series 1 of Robin Hood. Richard Armitage stands at right, holding the banana, his mouth in position to prepare for mampfing. Source: Richard Armitage Central Main Gallery

The second matter was, of course, to ponder the basis upon which the identification of Armitage could be made. I first saw the report linked on RichardArmitageNet.com, with the initial comment: “in one picture of the dwarves on horses, that might be him emerging from behind a rock.” It was later amended to include: “(on second thoughts, I think it’s Kili/Aidan Turner).” Now, I’m sure that someone who follows all this much more closely than I has made a definitive pronouncement by now, but at the time I had to laugh at the identification because I want to know, too, but I didn’t think we could tell either way. I know exactly how this provisional identification might have been made, though: click on the picture above (or download it) and zoom in on the figure of the man in the blue smock emerging from behind the rock and look at his profile. I’ve put in a little red circle to help you in the photo above, or, at left, a cutout from a screenshot. We can’t see the guy’s face, but we might be able to catch a glimpse of his nose. (Of course, probably every dwarf in the scene is wearing a prosthesis and has a larger-than-human nose.) Since Mr. Armitage makes jokes about his nose off and on, he might find this chain of reasoning amusing. I hope. We love you, Mr. Armitage !!! We especially love your nose !!!

So, following this stream of consciousness on the topic of the unique qualities of Richard Armitage’s nose — which is so distinctive that we use it to identify him at a distance, from the side, behind a rock — I began to think of something that I had wondered when vlog #4 came out, and actually did a little experiment with, but hadn’t had time to write up yet. I was looking at the picture of Thorin’s nose (sorry to keep posting this image, but I keep loving it and loving it!):

So, you know me, it’s hard for me to look at anything casually. This time, I was looking closely at the nose prosthesis. They haven’t built up the glabella — which was a good choice, since if you’re Mr. Armitage’s director, you want those corrugator supercilii muscles to be able to work unimpeded, I think — or the root of his nose, but they began with the prosthesis right at the lateral surface of the nose where it joins the cheek, and the device reshapes his own ala and the alar furrow (see diagram at right for terms). When we see Armitage in closeup, we almost always see a glimpse of the inner surface of his nasal septum, but this prosthesis eliminates that view. Now, in the end, I don’t think the extension of the apex on the prosthesis is all that much further out than his actual nose — maybe a centimeter at very most — but the curve of the actual Armitage nasal bones (for anatomical location of nasal bones and cartilages, see diagram below at left) seems to be either inverted or expanded outwards.

For comparison purposes: The right wing of Richard Armitage’s nose. Richard Armitage as Lucas North and Laila Rouass as Maya Lahan in Spooks 9.8. Source: RichardArmitageNet.com

Focus your attention! The cutout at left may help you to get your mind out of the gutter!

So you know, in your own life, although your nose is in your line of vision, you sort of mentally edit it out and don’t notice it. I have kind of a big nose (though admittedly not as big as Armitage’s) with pretty fleshy alea and apex. It’s big enough that if there’s a pimple or dirt on it or something I see it, but in day-to-day life I mostly ignore it, just as I do the margins of my spectacles. This must be a kind of evolutionary adaptational mechanism to prevent homo sapiens who are distracted by the size of their own noses from being eaten by predators while they stare, transfixed, at their proboscises. But I wondered what would happen if my nose were suddenly a great deal bigger, as if I were wearing a prosthesis. Would I adapt to its presence on my nose, or would I have to rebalance my walking and so on in order to accommodate the fact that I was now constantly actually noticing my own nose?

Ever the intrepid researcher, the day after I saw the photo above, I broke off a piece of pencil in the morning and taped it (with some sports tape that the last faculty member to occupy my office left in the desk) to my nasal bone, with one end starting just where the bridge of my glasses begins, covering the place where the cartilage of my septum attaches, and down to the tip. I did this at about 10 in the morning and figured I would leave it there until 3:15 p.m., when I leave my office to get my lecture room set up to teach, and see if I got used to it.

I just have to say: this was a horrid experience. Maybe it would have been better if I had had an actual prosthesis, professionally applied, but I totally underestimated how annoying the pull from the sports tape was going to be. Secondly, my fake prosthesis was a constant and serious distraction while I was working. I honestly thought it would take me an hour or two to accommodate my depth perception (as it does when I switch glasses), but even after five hours, I was constantly seeing it while reading. It makes me wonder whether, if my nose were bigger than it is, I’d have a nose job to facilitate getting more reading done. Thirdly, it was a serious obstacle to walking — and it’s not like I walked that far, back and forth to the department office a few times and once to the library and back and twice to the bathroom. (And yeah, people gave me a few funny looks, but this is a university, and I am totally out of the running for “most bizarre professor in the department,” even when I tape a broken pencil to my nose.)

I guess the conclusion is that it strikes me as amazing that anyone can act with all that stuff on his face. I imagine that he’d get used to it after a few applications, but I wonder how he accommodates his panoply of facial expressions to the pull of the stuff on his nose and forehead and chin. You can tell from the photo above that the face and eyebrows will still be able to do a lot — but one suspects that Mr. Armitage’s voice is going to be just as important as we thought it would be and potentially even more important in his portrayal of Thorin.

So after thinking about what he’d do to deal with this issue, I of course following the continued stream of consciousness to postulate that in the course of his career, Mr. Armitage has naturally already had to make numerous nose accommodations. I suspect that this issue is of greatest consequence to him when he’s about to kiss someone. The head-on kiss is probably hard for him to accomplish and possibly the most dangerous for his leading lady should the maneuver fail.

One thinks, for example, of the first time that Lucas North kisses Sarah Caulfield, in Spooks 8.2.

It honestly looks like they had choreographed the kiss differently, with Armitage planning to hold his head straight and Genevieve O’Reilly to tilt hers, but as if at the last second, he realized that her head was going in the wrong direction and he needed to accommodate. I’m never sure with Spooks if this sort of thing is the result of not filming enough takes (one things of the unromantic tug on the sheets at the beginning of Spooks 8.4 made to keep Armitage’s butt covered up — it’s unclear to me why this tic couldn’t have been edited out), so they just had to put in a bad take for this scene, or if it’s a characterization move, i.e., if Armitage is portraying decisiveness or aggression here. The fact that he continues the scene with his hand on the back of her head could point in the latter direction.

I love this scene, and I just noticed that I have 1700 words of draft about it still lurking, besides what I said in my original episode review, so more on this kiss sometime, but here it looks like what they’re going for — this sort of tantalizing reaching out for the past — is being somewhat conditioned by his caution about bumping her in the face, because at 0:14 he has to change the angle of his head. The people who don’t like this kiss often cite that moment in particular as problematic.

One winner in both these kisses is that you can hear him breathing in like crazy through his nostrils. (I always wonder if these things are picked up in the shoot themselves or have to be dubbed in afterwards. Does Armitage have a breather double?) And a good Armitage kiss always ends with a solid nose smush:

The smush must contract his skin pretty aggressively. I’m thinking here of the kiss in John Porter’s dream in Strike Back 1.3.

Frighteningly sexy kiss, and from the beginning of it, in the portion behind the blinds (brilliant shot, camera people — I find that really titillating) we learn that he can tilt his head in either direction while kissing, but at 0:16 he’s got his nose pressed into her right cheek, and the pixels just can’t keep up with all that skin motion any more.

And from the beautiful to the ridiculous: during my Guy vidding I’ve inserted this little piece of Robin Hood 3.6 repeatedly as a sort of percussive divider, and I noticed something interesting that I’ve presented to you by slowing the clip 50%: When Guy is breathing in deeply during his tortured sleep, the camera closes in on the entrance to his nostrils and we something moving!

I guess if your nostrils are so relatively large, you’re at risk for finding all kinds of stuff in them.

Hey, Mr. Armitage, hope you know I’m teasing. You can pillow your nose on my cheek any time you like. Don’t change a nose hair for me, not if you care for me! And, if you prefer to kiss me straight on, I’ve even got a bit of a bumper on the tip of my own nose to help cushion the effect of any blow or collision.

And you, faithful readers? What’s your favorite Armitage nose moment?

***

I dare you: make a gift in honor of Richard Armitage’s nose!

At left: my personal favorite of Richard Armitage’s JustGiving endorsements. ChildLine received more than a million calls from children in 2008/9, of which it was only able to answer 71%. Almost a fifth of these calls relate to bullying. ChildLine also helps about 1,400 children per year who express suicidal thoughts. ChildLine is affiliated with the NSPCC, a UK child protection charity. This is an organization that saves lives and deserves our help.

I have to say I love it when his nostrils flare. I think of the welcoming ceremony in NZ and the way Richard stood there, looking so proud and excited to be there, a smile on his face–and the nostrils flaring. Yummy.

I always figured they had rehearsed the first kiss with Caulfield and she suddenly forget which direction she was supposed to go (well, now, if that had been ME he was kissing, I might have stopped breathing or possibly hyperventilated, but that’s just me) and he had to improvise. She didn’t exactly have a small nose, either, so some planning would definitely have been required.

As you say, it’s hard to tell, with Spooks’ propensity to playing One Shot Woodie.
I always wondered about that “Richard covering his butt” bit in that scene, too. I mean, unless he had caught a chill, why in RL would a guy feel the need to cover his butt up like that when he’s about to make love?

Oooooh the Strike Back fantasy/dream . . . sexy, sexy, sexy. Me likee a lot. The shot through the blinds, as if we are voyeurs–brilliantly done.

My favorite nose moment with RA? Hmmmm. There are so many I like . . . actually the scene in Robin Hood where Guy is thwarted once again and gives that magnificent disdainful sniff. I love it. I think it’s at the end of the fantastic “Supermassive Black Hole” video.

As you know from seeing photos of me, Servetus, I have a pretty good-sized “hooter” myself. I used to wish for a smaller, cuter nose, but now It’s hard for me to imagine anything but this hybrid of Daddy’s aquiline and Mama’s slightly puggish noses. SOOO glad Richard didn’t ever have work done on his. It’s all part of his unique masculine beauty.

He was covering his behind because he was wearing pants when he wasn’t supposed to. Certainly not a move the character would make in this situation, rather evidence of all the little things actors have to think of when filming such a scene. But it surely should have been edited out.

I guess as with so many other things about Spooks re mistakes, continuity goofs, etc. they just couldn’t be bothered to edit it out and/or re-shoot. Didn’t have the time, resources. money–who knows.
Maybe they thought we wouldn’t notice the sheet incident?

But Mr. Armitage is in the scene– and in bed. Of course, we’ll notice.

Jane, that’s what I’ve always thought was the case, that he was wearing underwear (not anything bulkier that would have shown up through the sheets) and was covering up to maintain the illusion of the scene. Instead it distracted from it somewhat, definitely should have been edited out.
Like the boom mike which drops into the scene in RH S2e11 when Guy whispers into Marian’s ear. How they miss those details is beyond me!

Robin Hood was riddled with so many intentional anachronisms they probably got things confused. You know,

Vasey decides to film the world’s first reality show. The Nottingham Chronicles, starring milord himself, Vasey, with a few scenes featuring his minions and enemies.

Only problem is, everybody tunes in to see the Hot Velvet Henchman instead of the Treacherous Troll. He gets offers for his own fragance line, Black Leather, his own clothing line, Dark and Delicious, and a gourmet chocolate line , A Taste of Guy. 😀

You know Guy hangs out in my den, eating Cheez-Its and surfing the satellite channels looking for buxom wenches who have lost their frocks. Since I’ve being sort of out of commission due to my accident, he has really slacked off his duties around the house and yard (Harry does his best to keep him on task, bless him, but you know Guy . . .) He needs to get out and get some fresh air and exercise.

Anyway, I would be delighted to send him over during the holiday season to deliver A Taste of Guy. He will, of course, have to tug his black leather gloves off with his teeth before feeding them to you. Don’t be surprised if he says in that rough-edged velvet voice, a smirk on his handsome face, “Open your mouth and close your eyes, here comes a big surprise, Mezz . . .”

Well, it is summer here in Australia so Guy would be able to get lots of fresh air and exercise, plus he wouldn’t need to surf the satellite channels looking for buxom wenches who have lost their frocks. He’ll find them aplenty on our beaches!!
Mind you, he might get too hot in all that leather. I promise that I will personally see to keeping him cool and comfortable! 😉 *thud*

That’s right, while it’s damp and rainy and headed towards winter here, you’ve got summer there. Beaches with scantily clad babes. Oh, Guy really does love the 21st century in so many ways. I could let him borrow Lee’s pretty blue Speedos, what do you reckon? (Black leather would get a bit hot and might not fare too well if he took a dip. . .)

I am certain you would take excellent care of him and keep him very, very busy. 😉

As much as I can appreciate how well Speedos would show off Guy’s..*cough*..assets, I think he would look just as gorgeous in boardies, the sort that hang low on the hips, showing off that magnificent chest and washboard abs. I can see him now, those big feet planted firmly in the sand, thighs braced, arms crossed, his beautiful locks blowing in the wind…

It is a ovely imae Mezz paints . . . uhmmmm, wish I did Photo Shop and could manage to create an image of S3 Guy with his boardies in that stance . . . a sexy little smirk on his face, of course. *thud*

May I add, in addition to the magnificent chest and abs, that low slung boardies show off the iliac crest very nicely (thanks to RAFrenzy, that has become another source of RAnatomy fascination for me!) 😉

Yeah, that little sheet movement took something away from the scene, He was simply trying to maintain the illusion of nudity and therefore the reality of the scene, but the way it played out onscreen was jarring and it only reminded us it was two actors in a show.

There’s at least one Spooks episode (I think it’s 7.4) where you can see a boom mike in the middle of the shot 🙂 This is something about British tv that drives a lot of American viewers absolutely mad.

Hi Angie,
I agree with you about the awkwardness of RA’s sheet covering maneuver in the “blue love scene” as I refer to it–from the voyeristic skylight.

I feel for actors who have to bare more than just their souls for their art. They can keep their bottoms and fronts covered for me. I’ll use my imagination–which is considerable.

And, I think a little double stick tape around RA’s tush–like the actresses use to keep their boobies in the their plunging necklnes–might have done the trick for him in that scene. But as you say, Spooks didn’t worry about multiple takes.

But, non-moving sheets still wouldn’t have made that scene more believable. Besides, does the top sheet ever stay on in lovemaking anyway? That question is rhetorical. Ha!

Cheers! Grati ;->

P.S. It’s late and my comment censor button is not just in the off position, it’s broken. Ha! So, I’m going to toddle off to bed now–dreaming of RA and his nose, and the lovely possibilites.

Well, I think of RA as a thoroughbred and then I saw your post about his nose. This makes me think of a couple of things I gleaned about horses in history and culture from a novel I just read (My Name is Red). I learned that Mongols slit the nostrils of horses to let them get more air into them and therefore run further/harder. Also there is a story of a sultan who, noticing that horses had such enormous nostrils, found it offensive and ordered that they all be slaughtered. I came to a better understanding of why the East and West find it difficult to understand each other from this novel. An interest in RA can be quite a trip! LOL

Now THAT’s a story that reminds me of the story from Y Mabinogi, a book of old Welsh tales, in which the Irish king offers to marry the British king’s sister, Branwen. Out of spite, and because he felt he wasn’t properly consulted, one of the half-brothers of the Children of Llyr mutilates the horses the Irish king has brought as a bridal gift by slitting their nostrils and eyelids.

Ah, the good ol’ days, when folks weren’t so anti-social, and entertainment wasn’t all sex and violence…! 🙂

I am frequently amazed at how your mind works (in a good way)! It had never occurred to me that a prosthetic nose or even a rather large nose could be visually distracting. That you actually tested this out with the broken pencil had me in stitches! Those poor leading ladies of his, having to deal with the logistics of kissing him with that magnificent nose…what a tough day at work. 😉

I think it occurred to me for a couple of reasons — one was that my eye perspective to his eyes in the photo was different with the nose, and that made me wonder how the world looked from his perspective. The other was that I just got new glasses this summer and the adjustment was a little difficult.

the practical test was something I started doing in grad school when I was reading in some of our required reading that the average individual in medieval England almost never went more than 35 mi away from home — because 25 mi was a distance that most people could walk comfortably in a day. I forced my BF at the time to check it out and we had a lot of fun pretending to be medieval. It turns out a lot of practical claims made in history texts are heavily hypothetical …

Now that I have gotten over the vision of you walking around with a piece of pencil taped to your nose, I have to say this post covers a lot of ground, even if the title focuses on RA’s aquiline nose.

I sooo love the candids, especially when he’s in the background, when we see the real Richard quality as I think angie called it. Those ones from Hood academy are favourites of mine, especially the banana shot.

Like a good student, I did look first at Lucas’s nose in that pic, but then I kinda, ahem, got sidetracked almost immediately by the curve of that shoulder and bicep!

That SB fantasy/dream sequence is seriously hot. Of all his kissing scenes (and it’s a pretty short list!) this to me is the most passionate and intense one, possibly because of the high smush factor 😉

My own nose is a snub nose, similar to Lucy Griffiths’ actually, which totally endeared her to me from the first time I saw her profile! I guess mine has a bumper too!

Favourite RA nose moment? I’d have to go with any of his kisses, and, I agree with angie here, Guy’s wonderfully contemptuous sniffs.
In profile, front on, and every view inbetween… such a gorgeous, masculine distinctive nose! 🙂

I loved Lucy’s nose–cute and with character– and hope she will never feel pressured to make it Hollywood perfect. She is supposed to be an upcoming series for, I think, CBS, but haven’t heard anything recently about it.

Yes, I said I love those real Richard moments captured through the lenses. Richard snacking, drinking coffee, watching intently from the sidelines, getting his makeup touched up, talking with crew members. I adore the shots of him practicing his archery and horseback riding in the Hood Academy, too. You can see how he concentrates on the task (oh, and his tongue sticking out just a little is TOO cute)

The man is hands-down the best onscreen kisser (logistics required by large proboscis taken into consideration) 😉 The John/Margaret kiss is the most romantic and swoon-worthy for me, but that Danni/Portah kiss just makes my screen sizzle. It’s the white-hot intensity of that kiss, the heat of their desire for each other, the stripping back of his shirt to reveal that broad, sculpted shoulder and the lines of his beautiful gazelle-like neck. *thud* I do believe that inspired a scene in Truce, now that I think of it. 😀

Oooh yes, if you’re talking romantic and swoonworthy, definitely the N&S train station kiss.
The man is a fabulous onscreen kisser, but, like the candids, there can never be too many kiss scenes for me! Three years of RH and only two kisses with Marian, one a diversionary tactic on her behalf, and the other one where she couldn’t pull away from Guy fast enough. Three years of Spooks,none shared with Elizaveta, apart from a kiss on the cheek if I recall correctly, and only a few with Sarah and Maya, where I didn’t think there was much chemistry between the actors. Re that first kiss between Lucas and Sarah you mentioned, RA changed direction at the last moment so smoothly you’d miss the manoeuvre entirely if you weren’t watching as closely as we obviously do!!
Thank goodness for the sizzling Danni/Porter passion. No wonder you were inspired!!
Somehow I don’t think the kiss quota is going to increase with Thorin. 😦

Yes, Mezz, we don’t have much in the romance and passion department re Richard’s roles . . . bad boy John Mulligan did kiss Ellie, Capt. Ian was kissed by What’s Her Name (and that doesn’t end well), and Lee the Flirty Girty Lifeguard gave us a few kisses . . . a stray one here and there with some of the smaller roles. But nowhere near enough for we fangurlzz who want to see him get the girl and have the girl enthusiastically be “got.”

I never felt much chemistry with Maya or Sarah with Lucas, either.

Elizaveta, yes–but that was doomed to go nowhere as she had a new life with husband and child.

I know Richard says you can manufacture chemistry, but I think it needs to be by both parties to really sell to audiences. Sometimes you have actors who can’t stand each other in real life and yet they make it sizzle on the screen. And interestingly, you have real life couples who fizzle on film–go figure. *shrugs shoulders*

He had demonstrable chemistry with Lucy, Daniella and with darling Dawn–and definitely must include lovely Shelley Conn as Danni. In fact, I felt chemistry with all the female leads in Strike Back, and not just the designated love interest. It helps they can all actually ACT (not casting any stones *cough cough* GOR and LR , , , )
I would enjoy seeing him acting again with any of the former, along with wonderful Hermione Norris. He and Ros were a such a great team.

I still finding myself wanting to kick Marian into next week for the way she toyed with our boy’s affections (yeah, I am Team Leather all the way)

Sadly, since there are no ladies on the quest in The Hobbit, I fear we won’t see a proper demonstration of Thorin’s kissing skills. But I bet we will read about it in fanfics 😉

Aha! That’s what I’m hoping for! Thorin and the elf maiden…a brief, tantalizing glimpse of what might have been between a mischievous elven jailer and her proud captive, followed by a big misunderstanding which redoubles his rage toward the elves. Then a reconciliation scene on the battlefield: she saves his life by sacrificing her own…why no, I haven’t given this scenario any thought at all. I’ll just let PJ and his crew figure it out.
Sigh.

I think it was you, Serv, who posted a short vid of RA and Shelley at the SB premiere. They were greeting people and she put her hand on his arm to speak to him. He dips his head toward her to listen, and something in their body language led me to believe that they weren’t “just friends”. The chemistry between them was obvious, but I also felt the chemistry between he and Orla Brady was great.

It’s too bad Spooks never explored a Lucas/Ros romance. Those two had wonderful chemistry, much better than any of the actresses they actually used with him.

That’s why I decided to put Lucas and Ros together in The Adventure Continues–Richard and Hermione had such great onscreen chemistry, I had to conduct a little wish fulfillment. I am glad he at least had a colleague with whom he established a trust and friendship. Poor Lucas sure didn’t have much luck in the romance department, that is for sure.

And I think Richard is at his best in scenes with fellow actors who have talent–and that includes romantic scenes. It can’t be easy performing opposite a mannequin. *rolls eyes and shakes fist at Spooks casting dept.*

As I said, Richard had good chemistry with the ladies of Strike Back. Even with Layla, who started out very much distrustful of Portah, you saw the connection between the characters as the series progressed. I think of Porter and Layla in the prison scenes, their eyes communicating as much as their words. Which is what planted the seed in my mind for Truce.

If Ros could generate such heat in those scenes with Maynell in S7e5, where her passion was contrived in order to seduce him, I reckon she and Lucas would have positively sizzled, such was the chemistry they had.

Exactly, Mezz. Hermione thinks Richard is “sublime” anyway, so I am sure she would not have objected to a steamy little affair between Ros and Lucas. 😉 They obviously thoroughly enjoyed working together.

I know those two characters may have carried too much emotional baggage for an intimate relationship to work, but gosh–Lucas needed someone to give him some good lovin’.

Mezz, it is at DF (mentioned in the fan showcase post about Amanda Jane) and at Live Journal. I am “fedoralady” at both sites. It’s a mixture of spy thriller/sci-fi/comedy/erotica featuring characters from Spooks, Robin Hood, Torchwood, VoD and the paranormal series Sea of Souls (Lucy Griffiths appeared in that). It’s—wild. Servetus likes it. And never let it be sad I don’t have a good imagination. 😉

Thanks angie, now that I think about it, I have already read it on LJ, for some reason the title didn’t ring any bells for me. But your description of the content certainly did!! 😉 I’ve read and liked your fanfic, and have just started reading Amanda Jane’s, now that I’m registered on DF.

It’ s not just that he is so handsome; the man also behaves like a gracious gentleman and is such a true class act. Just not enough guys out there with the looks AND the personality and intelligence and intuitiveness and old-fashioned good manners.

That’s what makes him so absolutely irresistible to me. He trips all the right switches. 😀 He makes me swoon and drool and smile and go “awwwwww” and do some serious thudding.

As I told another RA fan in an email recently, it’s lovely to be the fan of someone who is not only oh so attracitve and drool-worthy but is also someone whom I can genuinely admire, respect and just plain like for his talent and strong work ethic,modesty, sincerity and down-to-earth sense of humor.

I just feel like patting myself on the back for having such incredibly good taste. 😉

Sorry lizzie, I’ll fix that. Google getty images etc, then on the results page, you will see the videos listed a little way down from the top. Don’t refine to images! You will just get the pics, which are still nice ones of RA!

I’d have loved Lucas / Ros, but someone pointed out to me that Ros had just gotten over a long affair with Adam that was basically ended by her faked death and then his actual one, so it would have been repetitive. After I watched the whole Spooks back story, I agreed with whoever it was who told me that, maybe it was Jane.

OMG Servetus, I have tears streaming down my face, co-workers in my office think I’m having a breakdown of some sort!!
Can I add that even a small-ish nose can get in the way of a loving pash – All to do with the tilt of the head!!
Off to watch again really is hysterical, bravo Servetus. Oh and thank you for the cut out helped me immensely to keep focused.

I was thinking about the “sheet scene” from Spooks 8 Ep 4 – I don’t believe he is trying to cover up his bum. I think that when he rolls over onto Sarah the sheet becomes lodged between their bodies so Lucas tugs at it to ahhh “gain access” as it were ;).
Favourite nose moment? As a Guy girl I can’t go past Guy’s spendid sniffs but also love the first view of JT looking regally down from the top of the stairs. Not exactly down his nose, but it adds to his presence. 🙂

You have been studying that scene closely, haven’t you? *wink, wink, nudge, nudge, say no more* You very well may be right. I might just have to re-watch it myself. For research purposes only. 😉

I have said it before, but Richard is more regal to me than most of the actual royals out there. It wouldn’t surprise me one little bit if the man had some royal blood. He has that regal bearing, that gravity and presence that get your attention.and hold it. LIttle wonder he was chosen for Thorin, the King Under the Mountain.

Totally agree with you on the “sheet scene” Beachbaby! I always thought he was pulling it out of the way and not feeling the need to cover up. If it had been happening in RL I doubt he would have felt the need to do the latter as you don’t normally have people watching you through your skylight or filming you – hopefully!! Of course I would not be averse to having another look at that scene just to be sure! 😉

My favourite kissing scene would have to be at the end of N&S of course!! I never tire of watching it and actually went through a stage of not being able to go to bed without watching it at least a couple of times!! 🙂 I liked the JP and Danni one too for obvious reasons.

This evening I re-watched “Notting Hill” (a favourite movie of mine) and I think I’ve become a bit of an RA snob! I find myself comparing other actors to him nowadays and they all seem to lack that special something that he brings to roles he plays! Oh don’t get me wrong – I really liked Hugh Grant in that role I guess it is because I’m so desperate to see Mr A in some kind of romantic movie. I think he would be really fantastic in such a role. I also watched an episode of Inspector Lynley tonight and again, even though I like Nathaniel Parker, I found myself saying, “He can’t run as beautifully as Richard.”!!!

Every profile shot is the best! The N&S beautiful camera work reflects this so beautifully. Thank heaven there was NEVER a nose job. The adult RA face has long grown up to the nose. According to various DNA analyses, a large proportion of the English population (of English ancestry) have Plantagenet DNA. Well, it’s a small island, and the Plantagenets were – prolific. Long live the nose!

Beachbaby, agree about the “sheet incident” – it also seemed like one of those silly little things that might occur in RL at the moment. Of course, it might have been that the utter lack of chemistry prompted a rather self-defensive action…

Servetus, I am in total awe of your bravery. Really taping that pencil piece to your nose and walking around. I would have problems doing that at home, my neighbours could peek in and see me. Really brave of you and I admire you greatly for it !!!
The research is very interesting to me, as I have a quite narrow but large nose myself, which I notice and need to block out. I even once asked my mother, if my nose was the first thing she noticed about me, but she is really lovely and said no, it was my big eyes ;o)
In your Nose4 scene I wondered about your mentioned breathing. I had never thought that breathing to belong to Lucas North/John Bateman. I had always thought, it was a sigh of resignation, of giving in by Maya Lahan.
I re-watched that scene repeatedly now, but I just can’t get it to belong to LN.

I forgot to mention my favourite nose scene. It is one from “Strike Back” and is one millisecond, where he is in full profile (which I used for my icon silhouette ;o) But that is a hard decision, as I love all scenes where his nose appears, even when not in the picture ;o)

Hello Nietzsche. It is not from that scene with Layla. The scene of my profile shot is just a short moment, where he is exactly in the position of the silhouette (head, shoulder and severe and composed look on his face – I always have the impression that one can tell his portrayed emotion even from a silhouette) and the moment goes by so fast, that I think nobody ever mentioned this moment as perfect profile shot. (I know, I make a bit of a secret around it, but it is as if the movie stops there every time for me, when I watch the silhouette and he is so smug and self confident at that moment, that he in my eyes is just absolutely perfect ;o)

BTW after wearing rimless glasses for about ten years I got a solid dark frame because I decided I wanted something different, without considering that it would be visible to me. It bothered me so much that for the first few weeks I thought I need go back to rimless glasses again. After some time I got used to it as my brain learned to “edit it out”. I guess it is the same with a prosthetic nose.

Oh and, three cheers to you because you tried this at your workplace and not in the privacy of your apartment!

There may have been a little “does anyone notice me” going on, but you know, in a university there are so many strange people doing odd things that a middle-aged woman with a broken pencil taped to her nose hardly attracts notice. I think if I’d done it during Greek pledge week no one would have looked at me at all.

A bit longer, that your piece about the thumb 😉
Great lesson – love a dedicated teachter, who tries the theory on her own body 😉
Fantastic subject – adoooore that nose. And that nose 1 scene (lucas and Maya). *Cant breathe*. Got to admit that it is not his nose, that does it for me in that scene. No, it is the way he first very cautious kiss her in the same level as her, and THEN he rise above her and deepens the kiss *DROOL* – that scene should have had the same length as “the train station kiss”.

Looking foreward to your draft about this scene becomes a lesson. Ring the schoolbell, and I´ll be there 😉

Actually, for me, it’s the shot of his back view that I find more familiar; mainly the shape of his head and his ears, and his stride. If it is him, I wonder what happened to his leg, although it doesn’t seem to be too serious the way he’s moving. I can’t remember him being injured before! 😦 Usually it’s his co-stars on the receiving end; Jonas Armstrong fractured his ankle in a fight sequence with him, then Richard accidentally knocked Keith Allen’s tooth out.

When I first looked at the photo I zeroed in on the boot because it looked exactly like Benny’s after his accident and my heart dropped a little.

And then I took note of the fact that, unlike Benny, he wasn’t on crutches and seems to be moving around just fine. And you are right, he’s usually the one (inadvertently) inflicting injury on the other guy.

Oh goodness, you had me gasping for breath! I was laughing so hard at your description of taping a broken pencil to your nose and still not being in the running for craziest professor in the department. My husband and I are both Ph.D.’s and I showed that part of your post to him. He laughed too. We recognized it all. I love your drive to do experiments of all kinds (it reminds me of the cry “FOR SCIENCE!” in Girl Genius 🙂 and living in the wacky world of academia. One of my favorite professors (Scottish, incidentally) sometimes came to class with his shirt tucked *into* his tighty-whities, so their waistband was peeping over the top of his trousers. Loved that man, he was so brilliant and sweet and charmingly barmy and not unlike Radagast, actually. I remember him trying to find a missing eraser at one point and calling it a “rubber”, which had the whole (American) class tittering while he seemed entirely unaware of it. Wonderful man, premier scientist.

Anyway, thanks for the fantastic and detailed analysis of the Thorin nose prosthetic and the effect on being able to see and walk, etc. It’s easy to forget how much an actor has to overcome to provide such excellent performances. He makes the final result seem so natural and effortless, but it is clearly anything but.

Thanks for what you’ve contributed to my appreciation for Armitage’s skill and hard work: it raises him, and you, in my esteem.

yes, the holder of the PhD is often the possessor of an intrepid and rather odd curiosity … that underwear thing is pretty common, I think. I just had to buy all new jeans (lost some weight) and walked into a coffee shop for breakfast last week and this guy said, you left all the tags on the jeans. Embarrassing. So then I started ripping them off, and he said, there’s one left, and it turned out to be on my butt! He finally said, just let me. Mortifying. I’m amazed I let myself out of the house.

Oh yes, I have a host of similar stories of my own flakiness…head off in the clouds somewhere, totally missing the obvious right in front of me. At least it’s given my friends and family (and myself) something to laugh about. 🙂